Friends
by Hyper Vongola Decimo
Summary: Rin and Makoto coincidentally bump into each other at the bus stop and start talking while waiting for the next bus.


A/N: This story was written for my friend Emily, who gave me the prompt. It's not what I wanted it to be, I'm sorry for disappointing you ;_;

* * *

'Rin!'

'Makoto?!'

He cursed under his breath. Not only was he late for the bus, which Nitori predicted, and damn, he should have listened, but also he was now standing before Makoto Tachibana and there was no one in the nearest vicinity that could help his escape. Sighing with resignation, he walked over and joined the other teen on the bench.

'What are you doing here?' they both spoke at the same time, and a second later the area was filled with Makoto's chuckles.

Corners of Rin's mouth lifted too, but for a completely different reason. _He didn't change at all… _Makoto's laugh, the smile on his face, the look in his eyes, he was still the same Makoto Rin remembered. And that was the hardest part of this sudden meeting. Because Makoto was still the same, and he himself changed too much. He didn't even know anymore how to approach the guy he used to call his friend.

'You go first,' he said, when the chuckles finally stopped.

'So, what are you doing here, Rin?' Makoto sent him a brilliant smile, which sourly reminded Rin of his insecurities.

'Samezuka's dorm is ten minutes away from here,' he answered, crossing his ankles and dropping his gaze to his shoes.

'Oh, now that you've mentioned it…'

'And?' he interrupted. 'What are _you_ doing here?'

'I was just bringing notes to a classmate,' Makoto said with a smile, completely unperturbed by the sudden interruption. 'He lives nearby.'

Rin didn't say anything to that. Because what could he say? There was nothing that connected them anymore, there was no common ground for them, nothing to talk about. Only casual things he would say to a stranger, but Makoto wasn't one and it seemed extremely awkward to talk with him about the weather.

A careful look at Makoto was enough for him to know that he wasn't alone in those feelings. Three years was a huge gap in friendship. And this wasn't like with Haru, he couldn't just insult and challenge him out of the blue. He and Makoto didn't work like that. They cared too much for each other's feelings and that was the main reason they were so insecure with each other after such a long break.

His behaviour didn't help either, Rin noticed. Suppressing a sigh, he tried to find any subject they could talk about, when suddenly he remembered.

'I heard you held a training camp on the same island as we did,' he began.

'You heard?' Makoto seemed surprised, but it lasted only a moment. 'Ah, Gou-chan?'

'Yeah,' he nodded, looking away. 'So… were you okay?'

The silence that befell them made Rin's ears turn red. What was he even doing? Damn him trice to hell, of course Makoto was okay, he wouldn't be there otherwise. He was about to say something rude and stupid for sure, when Makoto's quiet voice reached his ears.

'So she didn't tell you that, huh…' the hesitation and lack of his usual cheerfulness made Rin automatically alert.

'What happened?' he looked at the other teen, trying to find an explanation for this change in behaviour.

Makoto was sitting with his head hung low, arms propped on his knees, and fingers entwined nervously. His whole posture screamed of uneasiness and fear, which made Rin feel that something frighteningly similar happened before. But he didn't want to remember, he didn't want to go in that direction, he couldn't. So he waited, observing how Makoto battled with himself and his demons.

'One of our club members went into the ocean at night,' Makoto started, his fingers tightening slightly. Dread gripped Rin's insides in a steel hold. _What kind of an idiot would do something so irresponsible…_ 'I went after him, but when I saw him drowning… I…' he took a deep breath to stop his body from shaking. 'I froze, I couldn't move at all. And then the water got inside my mouth and…'

His voice broke. Now not only Makoto's hands, but his shoulders and his whole body was trembling and suddenly Rin remembered. In the past, he has already seen this very same body falling apart right before his eyes. Shaking, trembling, tears streaming down his face, voice breaking, breath coming in laboured gasps. Rin didn't want to see Makoto like that ever again, ever.

Moving a little closer, he noticed how pale the other's lips were. It sure must have been difficult talking about something like this, but experiencing it on your own skin was another matter entirely. Rin didn't even want to imagine it, if just a mere memory left Makoto this broken.

Shifting his position, he leaned his shoulder against Makoto's, immediately noticing how cold his skin was. When surprised green eyes looked up at him, he quickly turned his head away. Even though he wasn't facing him, he knew Makoto smiled. He _felt_ it. Rin's ears turned a bit red, but he stubbornly chose to ignore it.

'I would have drowned if Haru didn't come and saved me,' Makoto finished his story, his voice going back to normal, trembling slowly fading. 'And Rei was saved by Nagisa, so we're all fine.'

'I see,' Rin focused his eyes somewhere on the horizon. Somehow it always ended up being about Haru, everything, always. 'Then let me correct myself,' he glanced at Makoto, eyes soft and questioning. 'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine now,' the other answered, a gentle smile appearing on his face. 'Sorry to make you worried.'

'Who's worried, idiot,' Rin snorted, turning away in hopes his ears weren't as red as his hair and trying not to hear Makoto's chuckles.

'Thanks, Rin,' Makoto smiled at him again, this time full of gratitude. 'Talking to you really helped a lot.'

'I didn't do anything though,' he answered.

'I still appreciate it,' Makoto's smile didn't fade and Rin accepted it with an internal sigh. There was no fighting with Makoto, he just couldn't bring himself to be harsh with him.

The silence fell between them once again, broken only by the distant trill of birds and a car passing by now and then. But this time it wasn't so uncomfortable and awkward. It almost seemed as if they managed to go back, all those years back. Their shoulders were still joined and Rin could feel the warmth coming back to Makoto's skin and radiating around him. Surprisingly, it wasn't unpleasant, it was calming, welcoming, safe.

He was brutally snapped out of his daze by the sudden appearance of the bus in the further corner of the street.

'That's my bus,' he said quietly.

'Oh.'

He noticed how Makoto's eyes darkened for a split second. This made him think, that maybe, just maybe, he could wait for the next one, to spend some more time, just the two of them. But then he had to punch himself mentally. What good would that do him? He had to be back in the dorm before the curfew, he shouldn't waste any more time.

Seeing the bus getting closer, he got up from the bench and moved a few steps away to stretch his bones.

'Hey, Rin,' Makoto's voice made him look back. 'Are we… Are we still friends?'

Were they? It was definitely strange and a bit awkward between them, nothing much changed after all. But were they friends again?

Rin tried to peek into his own confused emotions. No matter how much he would oppose the idea, he _was_ worried about Makoto. He never wanted to see him so scared and broken. He wanted to comfort him, to be there if he needed that, to listen if he wanted to talk. And he still liked hearing Makoto's laughter, that much didn't change.

So did it mean they were still friends? Rin smiled with a corner of his mouth.

'Yeah, we are.'

The bus stopped right before Rin, doors opening with a loud snap. He took a step towards it, but halted and looked back.

'See you, Makoto,' with that he got in, but a hand on his forearm stopped him halfway.

'Can I call you sometime?' green eyes gazed at him with uncertainty and pleading.

'Sure,' he answered, a smile appearing on his face, bearing only so little in resemblance with the ones from the past. 'We're friends, right?'

The doors of the bus closed, separating them with a wall of glass, but Rin noticed the wonderfully bright, cheerful smile that stretched Makoto's lightly flushed cheeks. And the weight he felt on his hearth since the day he got back from Australia slowly started to lift. Because after everything, they were still friends.

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Now tell me, how bad was it? ;_;


End file.
